The Meaning Of Life
by GuyWhoLikesBooks
Summary: Percy Jackson loner and loser meets a special someone who changes his view on life. (Percabeth)/(First Fic) Hope you like. Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING.
1. In The Beginning

"_The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." _

― _Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_

\*/

Would it be rude if I asked him not to do the cliche look over huge round glasses thing that they all seem to want to do?

"... as your mother had... Percy? Are you listening?" said the man whos name I recall as being Mr. Brunner.

"hm?" was my intelligent reply, but come on what kinda of question is that? Every single person who has ever asked "Are you listening?" knows that you weren't! Whats the point in asking a qusetion if already know the question?

"...if you were listening. Mr. Jackson will you please take this seriously. We _are_ trying to help you," the man who's name is Brunner said once I had the brain cells to regain focus and listen.

Maybe I do need help.

"Look I don't know what you're trying to help with me Mr. Burner," I replied sarcastically with as much smartass as i could muster.

Which is alot by the way.

"Brunner, but you can call me Chiron," he said as almost he had said the samething before. "Mr. Jackson we're trying to help you with what happened in the past couple of months," he countinued.

Oh god not this.

"Look can we not..." I started.

"Yes we can and we will," he interupted "Mr. Jackson it really would be good for you just to talk it out with someone, okay?" he commanded me gently.

"Alright," I conceded all too easily, but hey I'm tired and I wanna get out of here as soon as possible.

"I guess you're gonna want me to start at the beginning, huh?" I asked.

When seeing him shake his head in conformation I countinued "Well I guess you could say all though out my life I've been a loner,"

I took a moment to collect my thoughts. Okay I'm loner, so what? Thats not what he wants me to talk about. He's gonna want me to talk about _her_.

"Okay, you're a loner and...?" he asked as my moment turned into several.

"What I need you to understand ... uh i mean Chiron," I quickly corrected myself as i remembered his first name.

"What I need you to understand is that I never been noticed by, you know... _the ladies_ of my school so when she started to talk to me It was quite a shocker," I said with all the awkwardness that this kind of conversation would have.

"Would you mind me asking what the name of this she is?" he asked as i hoped he wouldn't.

"Annabeth," I muttered "Her name is Annabeth Chase,"


	2. Who You Are

"_Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you." _

― _George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones_

**AN: Sorry about the first chapter being so short, I was kinda in a rush and ended up making up silly spelling mistakes and such. Hopefully this one (while being longer) will be better.**

\*/

_Three months prior..._

"Hey Jackson heads up!" yelled a nameless face from the crowd.

He at least giving me sound advice to put my head up and see the football that was hurtling towards me. Nothing new in this respect, people threw things at me all the time.

Most of the time them not know I was sitting in that spot for the entirety of what ever time I usually am sitting in said spot.

So when the football that was coming at me at what i would suspect an alarming speed for some, I just tilted my body away alowing the ball to fly past me.

"Yo man could get us our ball?" asked another faceless name in the crowd of what i can see as being the "sport jocks".

Me, not being in a terrible mood, decided to be kind. So I closed the book that I had been enjoying for the past... how long have I been here? Man, when I get into a book I kind of lose track of time.

Well I got up and went over to collect their ball that had sailed passed me just moments ago. I looked at the ball for a moment trying to determine if I should throw it back or walk it over.

Walk It over, I settled.

"Thanks," acknowledged one of the jocks.

"No problem," I replied automatically.

It had looked like he was going to say something back but at that moment the first bell had rung singling to every Goode High schooler that it was the time to head inside.

\*/

"How to describe High School in two words?" I thought up in an attempt to entertain myself as I walked past people talking to their friends before the first day homeroom that we have to go to get our locker number's and so on.

My thoughts on thinking up an answer were interupted when I was "body checked" by one of the popular kids, I think his name is Luke? I wouldn't know, I try to keep anyone whose not important out of my mind as much as possible.

Wait is he saying something?

"... where you're going _cretin_," the one with the blond hair who's name I believe is Luke.

Hold up, cretin? What? Alright I guess that's, uh, new.

I wordlessly looked back into, what I now notice to be blue eyes. I said nothing and continued on my way.

I believe I have an answer to the question I was thinking of before I was rudely interrupted.

_It's hell_.

\*/

Room 213, well at least the homeroom is close to the entrance so I'm not going to need to walk too far.

As I walk into what will be my homeroom for the rest of the year I can't help but take in my surroundings, the desk in the corner with a stack of geometry books leads me to belive that this is a math class. The whole room seems to have that musty smell that all classrooms have at the beginning of the year.

I go, almost against my will, to the back of the room and pop open my book to resume where I was at.

Not needing to listen what the teacher up front was saying anyways. They'll just hand out our locker number's and combinations.

"Is there a, uh, Percy Jacskon?" asked the women up front who appeared to be my homeroom teacher.

"Yeah, right here," I answered her.

"Okay I have your information here," she said while holding out the piece of paper that held said information.

"Thanks," I replied as i took the paper off of her.

Looking at it I could see that it was locker 2089 with a combo of 17-38-2. Nothing new as I had Locker 2034 last year.

The paper also had my schedule on it, which I have to say is very convenient for me.

All I need right now is my first block class (our school does block scheduling, which is 4 blocks in one school day).

Oh, well would you look at that, first block is language arts. It being one of my favorite subjects. So its in room 109 with a Mr. Blofis as my teacher.

Blofis? Intresting name.

Almost sounds like _Blofish_.

\*/

"Hello class, I'm Mr. blofis and I'll be your teacher for this semester here at Goode High School," the man with salt and pepper hair with a casual shirt and pants said.

He seems okay, I mean all that could change depending on his attitude, but if I had to go off his attire I think I can say he's pretty laid back.

"While I see some of you have books, I do need to say that bringing in a silent reading book is necessary as it's part of your final grade," he declared to us. A few of the kids here in room 109 groaned.

Me? I was pretty excited, reading part of your final grade? Hell yeah, I'll take that.

"I know, but hey, today's the first day so... easy day for us all!" Blofis said trying to have those who groan to become excited.

For me a free day is reading and thnking, so I went back to reading and thinking.

The thinking part is where I decided it whould be fun to see how many seconds there are in this school year. So I had to start with how many days there are, 180, okay how many hours. Well theres 4 blocks in a day each block being an hour and a half with a half an hour for lunch. That would make it... six and half hours each day, times that by 180 makes it 1170 hours in a year. Now times that by another sixty to get it to minutes... which would be... 70200 mintes. Lastly I now need to get seconds so... that times 60 gets me...

"Hey, what book you reading?" asked a person who's voice sounded feminine in nature, which is odd, girls usually don't talk to me.

"Uh, its A Clash Of Kings," I unsurely reply.

"OH, I love George R.R Martin," she happly informed me.

"Your a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire?" I asked disbelievingly with my still on the bookl.

"Yeah, personally my favorite character is Jamie Lannister," she said as if to tell me _yes I read the books._

Well thats new, I don't know anyone but myself who has read ASOIAF except me. She must be new or I've never known of her before.

It's probably the later.

I looked up to see the most intense grey eyes in all my life.

"Hi, I'm Percy," I said to her.

"Hey," she replied "I'm Annabeth,"

\*/

**AN: Sorry about ending it there, but the next chapter will be alot of percabeth. I hope you guys have enjoyed, and that I have given a much longer chapter then the first one.**


	3. The Ideal Life

"_Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life." _

― _Mark Twain_

**AN: Thank you all with the support, I hope this chapter does Percabeth some justice.**

\*/

Annabeth Chase is an engima, she seems to be the kind of person who can be friends with anyone with her happy-go-lucky attitude, but she chooses to talk to me of all people.

What I have learn is that she is indeed new and her father is both hers and my history teacher. Though Annabeth seems not fazed by this at all. I would say at her other schools her father must have been the history teacher as well and she just has grown use to it.

"This is where you sit?" she asks me politely.

"Yeah," I confirm.

"Good," she states, she then goes to put her tray of food right next to mine.

So now shes sitting with me at lunch?

_What is with this girl?_

A beautiful blond hair, grey eyed girl now is sitting with me and talking to must be _The Twilight Zone._

"So what class do have next?" she asks me.

"Uh, I've got geomatry," I tell her.

"Is it with Miss. Dodds?" she asks me as if saying "Hey is that the same teacher as mine?".

Which is odd because it _is_ Miss. Dodds geomatry class that I have next.

"Yeah..." I start with trepidation.

"Sweet, me too!" she happily interrupts me.

What the hell? We now have the same three classes in a row, my god if she has the same Phys Ed class as me i might need to wake up from this dream.

It would be a dream, having someone like Annabeth Chase talking to me would definitely be a dream.

"So... you, uh have anyone eles you sit with?" she asks me, I'm starting to see a pattern.

"No, I usually sit alone and read," I say, I mean Its not like I'm sad about the whole thing. Me being alone allows me time to think without having to pay attention to someone eles. Its nice.

Its also nice talking to Annabeth too, weird.

"Oh, yeah I use to sit alone at my old school," she says, that I have to say I don't believe. By what I have already seen of Annabeth is that she is the "have many friends" type girl.

"Mh," I somewhat agree in a grunt type thing.

"Well, uh... your not the talkative person are you?" she asked, again mind you.

"No, and you ask alot of questions," I told, someone had to tell her.

"Sorry, yeah my dad says I should work on that. I really have no idea how to carry a conversation," she... I think apologized?

"Well Annabeth, what interests you?" I asked her.

"Architecture," she told me, personally I wasn't excpecting architecture but I guess thats why they say don't judge a book by it's cover.

"Why that?" I generally was curious about that so I asked it.

"I want to build something that'll last a generation, ya know? Something... something like the pantheon in Greece, I want to build something that people will see for the next thousand years," she passionately ranted to me.

"That's pretty ambitious, I like it," and I did like it, she had clearly put alot of thought into what she wanted to do in life. That is something I can respect.

"What about you," she inquired.

"Thats a pretty tough question for me, right now I have no idea what I want to do with my future, I also have no idea if thats scary or not," I told both her and myself, I really have no idea where I saw myself in five years.

"yeah," she trailed off, her eyes looking down at my tray, "Hey you gonna eat your apple?"

"No, Its all yours," I say as I toss to her.

"Thanks," she replied

She likes apples?

Annabeth Chase is a _weird_ character.

\*/

If high school is hell then Miss. Dodds is satan.

From the moment I walked in she pegged me as the troublemaker, which is outlandish I've never had a day of detention that wasn't justified.

"Mr. Jackson can you please put away the _book_," Dodds said with the word book coming out like I was holding a gun, what teacher hates books?

"Sorry Miss," I half-heartedly apologized.

Miss. Dodds could actually play the part of a demon with the way she's dressed. I've never seen a teacher actually wear a leather biker jacket in school, and kinda pull it off.

The jacket wasn't the only thing that set her more on the side of evil on the teacher scale, it was also the permanent scowl on her face that was kind of werid as well, almost like every kid here was the enemy and needed to be put down.

"Miss. Chase will you answer the question?" she asked, more like a commanding question if you ask me.

"Yeah the uh, the square root of 72 is 8.48," she answered, in the short time of knowing Annabeth I've learn she is the star student that _all _teachers love.

"Hm, well done," Dodds said, scowl never wavering.

I don't consider Miss. Dodds a teacher, more like, what were Hades servents? Furys?

Yeah, Furys, Dodds is more of a fury then a teacher.

The saying of being saved by the bell has never in the world ever been more apical then right now.

"Well class I'll see you tommorrow," Dodds said with mischievous glint in her eyes.

Oh yeah I forgot, I have her again tommorrow, damn it.

\*/

**Sorry about this one taking so long, wanted to make sure my Annabeth Percy interaction was weird as a first conversation sould be. Hopefully the next one comes out sooner.**


	4. The Thing About Girls

"_That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can." _

― _J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye_

**I'm kind of thinking with how I'm going so far that this will be something like ten chapters, I have no idea. I just hope you guys get some kind of enjoyment out of this.**

\*/

Now looking back on it I have no idea why I agreed to get in Annabeth's car with her to get some pizza and maybe catch a movie.

Maybe Its her eyes, there pretty intense being stormy grey and all. It could also be that I wanted to talk to her more because I kind of liked her in a totally friends way.

Yeah lets go with that.

"Have you ever been to this place?" she questions, I'm starting to get used to her curious nature.

"Yeah, best pizza in town," I tell her, Its true too. Taste of Italy is by far the pizza in town.

"Good, uh so have you decided on what movie you want to see?" she asks.

"I kind of like the trailers for NightCrawler, so we can go see that if you want to," I kind of confess to her.

"Yeah, I liked those trailers too. It seems like Its gonna be a good thriller," Annabeth declares to me.

I nod and look to see how far we got till we're at Taste of Italy, I'm getting kind of peckish.

In all my years of having silence with another person I have never had a comfortable silence like this, Its the type of silence that you have when both of you are deep in thought.

My thoughts, lately have been going to this, went to Annabeth. She's by far the most curious person I have ever met. Besides me I guess, aside from that I really have nothing. I haven't tried to ask her anything personable yet. You know what they say "Curiosity killed the cat".

As I try to think of something else besides the blonde next to me, like my book, I remember the little known rejoinder to the cat saying."Curiosity killed the cat,..."

"...but _satisfaction_ brought it back".

\*/

Is there anything better then a good slice of pizza on this earth? Maybe, but if so I haven't found it yet.

Taste of Italy is one of the last local only pizza places in the area, for good reason too. Sure its kind of run down looking with its wallpaper satrting to peel and the grease like smell in the air, but hey thats part of it's charm.

"I've got to admit this is by far _the _best pizza I've had in a while," Annabeth said after she finished stuffing herself with her second pizza slice.

"Told ya," I say grinning, I have a weird satisfaction with being right. It just seems... you know... _right._

"So... uh Annabeth, how's your family like?" I ask nervously. This being one of the few times I asked another intresting person a personal question. Not a easy thing when all my life I've tried to be socially acceptable.

"There good," she answered, well that wasn't really an answer at all.

"Oh, thats good," I told her and it was good. Having a good family is good.

My mom is by far one of the best people I know. In all my life I have no memory of her ever yelling at me or getting frustrated. Shes all around a decent person.

My dad though I never met. My mom says he died while on a boating voyage, whatever that means. Mom says that I look like him with my sea green eyes and raven hair.

In the span of about fifteen minutes we both had finished our large pizza and were ready for the movie.

We went out to her Honda Civic when I said,

"My familys good too, mom does her best with what shes been given. She works at a candy shop, Its uh called Sweet on America and while its not the best paying job ever but we get by," I ranted on about.

"Oh thats cool, yeah my dad as you already know is a history teacher which was kind of weird at first but you get use to it after awhile," she told me, yeah the one thing I _do _know about her and she tells me again.

"Yeah," I confirmed with her, I'll let her tell me more about herself later.

Right now I had a movie to deal with.

\*/

The theater was packed.

Frankly? I'm not surprised, it's a pretty good movie.

Well ok what I saw of it was good. I kind of got lost in my thoughts about half way through. Nothing new, I mean with my ADHD and my overworking brain movies have always been hard to kind of sit and watch.

Books though I can sit still and read, I would have to guess that it's in part that a book usually has you think more then a movie. You have to use your brain to picture the scenes and the characters, it takes alot to read a book. I love it that way.

So yeah back to the movie, it had some cool scenes and some intresting chracters. It had me intrested for a bit but theres always slow parts to movies and thats where my brain and I get lost.

The only part I saw after I got lost was the credits letting us know to get out and go home.

"So how'd you like the movie," Annabeth asked when we got to the parking lot.

"I liked it, had some good parts," I told her truthfully.

"Yeah what parts," she asked weirdly, what I mean by that is that she looked like she was keeping in a laugh while she asked it. Why would she...?

Oh, she must've notice I dazed off in the middle of it. Damn.

"Uh, yeah you got me, dazed off half way. It was sitll a good movie for the amount I saw of it," I said.

"Alright, yeah It was okay..." she paused to look at her phone outside the car. "I should be getting home though, its kind of late," she told me.

Oh shit, I didn't tell mom I was out with a friend. She is going to kill me.

"Oh yeah I should get home too," I also told Annabeth.

"Well hop in and I'll drop you off," she ordered me.

After telling her where I lived we were off.

My house not being far from the theaters had the car ride be short.

"So yeah, Percy I had fun, we should do this again," I she awkwardly said to me.

"Yeah totally, see you at school Annabeth" I said back to her and got out of the car.

As I was at my door I relived something, she was awkward in kind of saying we should do this again. Kind of like saying "Hey, this date was cool lets do it again,"

Thats when it hit me like a freight train, this seemed like a date with the pizza and the movies...

Shit I'm gonna be pissed if I went out on a date with Annabeth and didn't even _realised _it while on it with her.

\*/

**So yeah, I kind of figured for it to end there, cause I'm the writer and all. Hoped you guys liked it reviews of any kind are always appreciated!**


	5. Human Stupidity

"_Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." _

― _Albert Einstein_

**Have no idea when and where I'm going to end this chapter. I don't know if Annabeth will be in it as well. I have this planned out well don't you think?**

\*/

"Percy, where have you been?" my mother asks me as calmly as a parent in her poistion can.

I, Havin just walked into our house, was not surprised. I did forget to tell her that I had meet a friend today and gone out on a "maybe date" with said friend. Who also happened to be a very beautiful girl.

"Sorry mom I was out with a friend," I told her honestly.

"A friend?" she asks, but before I could say yes she countined "You were out with a friend till nine a clock at night?'

"Yeah me and Annabeth went to a movie..." I started but was interrupted.

"Wait Annabeth? Is your new friend a girl Percy?" she asked in that excited mom way when she knows that I am both eigthteen and have never been notice by a girl.

"Yes mom, Annabeth is my friend who is a female," I told her in a way as to not have her get _those_ idea's in her head.

I can't have another person in this house thinking like that.

"Oh," was all she said back.

"Mom I'm kind of tired so I'm gonna hit the hay," I told her, I mean it wasn't totally said in a way to get out of this awkward converstaion. I am kind of tired.

"Alright, good night Percy," she said.

"Night ma," I said back to her.

I went from the living room to my room which isn't a long walk.

My room is what you could say bare, I mean all I really do in ther is sleep and or read while trying to sleep. It's got a twin bed in the corner and a oak shelf with my clothes and stuff in there. My books I keep under the bed itself. The window that's on the far looks out to the road out front our house.

Its not much but It's enough.

I throw my backpack in the space between the door and the wall. I go over to the bed to sit down, I mean I'm pretty beat. It has indeed been a long day.

"Its only the fist day too," i said to myself, how am i ever in hell going to survive this year.

My thoughts were interrupted by some noise outside in the living room, most likely mom. She works too hard I swear.

"A _girl_?" I hear the muffled voice of my mom.

God damn it, she's havin _those_ thoughts.

\*/

The week surprisingly went faster then I had at first thought.

Annabeth and I hung out, admittedly not as much as we did on the first day, but it was a decent amount for new friends.

The days usually consisted of us talking in school and then go out to town, be it may the mall or A Taste of Italy or a bunch of other things. We have not in fact gone to each other's houses yet. I'm mostly waiting for her to offer as she probably has the most experience with friends while I have none, or as close to none as makes no odds.

So yeah, the school week was kind of fun. Sure Dodd's class was torture but hey its school what can you expect?

"Hey Percy?" Annabeth asked an unfinished question. Weird.

"Yeah?" I asked back to her question.

"Would it... I mean could it, no wait," she stumbled over her words for the first time since I met her. I raised my eyebrows but didn't say anything as to allow her time to collect her thoughts.

"Could we go do homework at your house?" she asked the question I was hoping she was going to ask, well maybe not _the _question I really want her to ask but hey, take it a step at a time right?

"Sure yeah, thats cool, yeah," good job not trying to seem overeager champ.

I've got be cool. Which if you haven't caught on now is a first for me.

"Alright we can head over in my car," Annabeth lays out the obvious plans. I mean we have been using her car to go every where this week. I take it as more of an insurance type deal, kind of where we all know the plan. Could be a friend thing.

So we indeed head over to her car and go to my house.

As to not go against the new norm I seem to have with being an idiot I realise that mom could be home and all she has been going on about was when she was going to meet (as she put it) "this Annabth girl".

So while in her car heading towards our home to where said mom could be do I realise that she could get weird with this. I mean i'm not against my mom meeting Annabeth but this might be a jarring experience for Annabeth.

As we pull up to the house after giving her the directions for getting us here all I could hope for was that Annabeth and mom would get along.

Or at least not have that cliche showing of the Percy baby photos.

\*/

"Wow he does have a cute Mrs. Jackson!" Annabeth exclaimed.

It would have been nice if she was talking about seventeen year old me and not 3 year old me.

"Oh please dear, call me Sally," mom said to Annabeth.

"Er, Annabeth don't we have homework to do?" I ask in the attempts to get her away from the _album_.

"Hm?" she looks at me with a "What are you talking about" look.

I called it. I really did. The second I walked in and saw my mom's light up at the mention of "This is my friend Annabeth" that this was gonign to bad in the best possible way. Is that even possible? Well it has to be, I mean mom and Annabeth are getting along great but at the cost of my dignity.

Its a price that i'm kind of glad to pay. Its nice to have my mom this happy again. Kind of been hard for awhile for us, she even had to sell the car and take the subway to work.

But with the smile that shes sharing with Annabeth almost makes me want to break out the drawings I drew when I was eight, _almost_.

"Nevermind," I finally decide on saying back to her. Homework can wait.

"So there was this one time when Percy went out to the car and got his foot stuck and let me tell you he was scared for his life," my mom laughingly tells Annabeth "He just had it stuck in between the door!" they both laugh at my naivety.

"It was a scary situation for a five year old," I try miserably at reasoning that my foot getting caught by the door is life threating scenario.

"Yeah, sure Percy!" Annabeth happingly agrees with me, though I think sarcasm was at play in that sentence.

So that's pretty much how she meet my mom, I swear its the most i've laughed in awhile. It all just felt good and nice.

The kind of thing you want repeated in your life. So when the night was finished and Annabeth went home I laid in bed and made a promise to myself that this night or a night will happen again.

That night I fell to sleep with a smile on my face.

\*/

**So, I think this might go longer then ten chapters. Really at this point I have no idea how fast I want to end this story, Its really up to you guys.**

**I just want to ask you guys if you like faster updates with shorter chapters or long chapters with semi long updates (4-7 days length). The long chapters being about three thousand words each which should be a good length.**

**Also wanted to say that I appreticate the reviews and that each of them is read, also Just Another Wise Girl follows this story, one of my favorite Percy Jackson writers out there.**

**A big thank you for that man, or girl. Sorry I swear this never happens.**

**Also, feels like the third also, but also while considering names for my writer name I had GuyWhoReadsBooks and Just Another Seaweed Brain. Thought the name would sum up the kind of guy I am.**


	6. Edge of Madness

"_Zaphod felt he was teetering on the edge of madness and wondered if he shouldn't just jump over and have done with it."_

― _Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_

\*/

The more Annabeth and I hang out the more I find out I like about her.

She has this great tendency to think before she acts and while I think a lot I usually am to think about things that have no value to the situation I'm in. It's nice to have that trait in a friend.

I have also learned that Annabeth is super independent, I mean she isn't one to let an apple go to waste but she believes that she needs to do most things on her own with out anyone's help.

So as we sit in her car with the burger wrappers strewn all over the place and our math homework on the center console I try to come up with an answer. Would she like it if I told her question 23 is x=19?

Probably not. Annabeth has this "It shouldn't be easy or it isn't worth it" type streak. Though it wouldn't be bad to ask her for help, the way her eyes light up when she's explaining how to get the answer is worth it.

"Hey, what you get for question five?" I ask, though I know the answer I haven't wrote it down yet.

"Hm? Oh, you need to use the alternate form of a derivative," she says with the light coming to her eyes, man she is really beautiful sometimes.

Ok, she's always beautiful, not the point though.

The point is that after two weeks and a couple of visits to my house that started as "homework time" went more as "have fun as a family" type deal. In these short two weeks I feel like I know everything and nothing about Annabeth. I have an idea as to what her home life is, I could guess its okay. Her dad is nice and cool in history class but I have no idea what her mom is like.

I haven't had the courage to ask yet. I'm more waiting on her inviting me over to her house then, you know inviting _myself over_.

I'll be honest and say that this train of thought is nothing new. I've been thinking about it for a while, but I always seem to lose it.

"Hey, you want to go see a movie?" she asks with a weird glint in her eyes, the weird kind that I get lost in.

"Yeah, that sounds cool," I say wondering what I was thinking about earlier.

Eh, it must've not been important.

\*/

The movie, someone would later tell me, was good.

Like I have said before I have trouble watching them by myself, but when you add the "Annabeth Factor" its a thousand times worse.

The "Annabeth Factor" is, if you don't already know, the brushing of the hands/ cute laughs/ anything that has to do with her when trying your hardest not to drift into my mind. All she was doing was giving my mind, the bastard that it is, more things to think and or analyze about.

So for what felt like two hours I thought about my friend/ person I might like more than that.

I'll admit it. I _like _her, what's not to like? This revelation came around the half way point in the movie. The other half was left wondering whether it was a good idea to ask her if she liked me in a "more than a friend" way.

I can safely say that an answer has not come to me yet.

Is it a good idea to potentially ruin the friendship by making it weird at such an early stage?

"I had fun tonight Percy," Annabeth thankfully interrupts my thoughts.

"Yeah, same, you, er... want to come inside?" I ask as politely as I can.

"Nah, got be heading home. Thanks though," she said back with a slight grin on her face. She does that a lot when we talk. That has to be a good sign right? I can do this, just say "Hey Annabeth you want to go on a date with me sometime?" yeah. I can do this, I've got this.

I can get this some other time. Yeah, now is too forward. Next time.

So I get out of her car loathing myself with every step it takes to get to our door. Quite a lot of steps by the way.

The worst part is I have no one to ask how to do this. I mean mom could help but she would get all excited and at this moment I need a level-headed person to give me advice. Someone who thinks before they act.

I really wish I could ask Annabeth how to ask Annabeth out. That would be grand.

\*/

So next time turned into the time after and well the time after is now.

Well not _right _now seeing as she's in the locker room getting changed but we always hang out after school and that involves seeing her again.

I just have to say it and hope for the best, thats what I suspect people do in this situation.

"They say it, so just say it Perseus," I chastise myself. I know I hate that name but I say it to myself anyway in hopes that I could just do it already. I might be going slightly insane.

Thats okay, I was wondering when it was gonna happen.

I can try saying it to her as though I was reading a sentence from a book. Then I won't freak myself out in the middle of it, yeah I can do that!

Now I just need to wait and try not to overthink this. Read, thats what I can do. I can read to take my mind off asking Annabeth out on a date this friday. I love books.

Or that could be bad, like really bad. I don't want it to sound like I'm reading it from a book.

Oh man I need to calm down. Just relax Percy, you can do this. You already know she likes you in some form and how is this any different then going on those movie outings we've gone on?

Well I mean there is a little difference but hey its similar. Thats a nice way to think of it.

There she is, god she's even more pretty than normal.

"Hey Percy," Annabeth said when she finally made her way over.

"Hey," I say with a surprising calm. I'm just talking to my friend.

"So Annabeth, I was wondering if you would like to go out with me to dinner this friday," I try to say with confidence. "As, like a date," I add-on

"With you and me," I add again hoping that she gets what I'm saying.

"A date?" she asks.

"Yes," I said remembering that saying yes in a situation like this is better than yeah.

The pause she takes to think about it is frightening**. **I try my best as to not to show it.

"I'd like that Percy,"

\*/

**Man, this one was tough. I've had no experience with the asking out a girl thing so I hope I did well.**

**Next one might take a bit. I have no idea at this point.**


	7. True Love

"_Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer."_

_Jean de La Fontaine_

\*/

"Take it Percy!" my mom all but yelled at me. I'm starting to know where I get my stubbornness from.

"Mom please, I've saved up money for this. I will not take it from you!" I all but yell back. I really have saved up a nice chunk of change and refuse to take money from my mom. This is my date with Annabeth and I will be the one paying for it.

"Percy," she starts in a warning tone "I know where you're taking her, okay? I know how much its gonna cost and I have been waiting, as a mother, for two years now. Two years! I will be paying for this, no buts," she sternly said to me.

Wow, okay then. I shut my mouth and took the the fifty from her outstretched hand. The voice she had used was one I had never heard her used before at me, it was kind of jarring. So instead of pressing the matter for another twenty minutes.

"Alright mom, look Annabeth is gonna be here in ten minutes so can you help me, you know, help me decide what would be nice to wear," I say knowing its been eight years sense my mom picked out my clothes for me.

She just smiled and nodded her head.

I went to sit on my bed while my mom went through my drawer to find something nice to wear.

The time it took allowed me to, again, think about the date itself. The restaurant is nice enough for what it costs, hopefully she likes the surprise though. That's what i'm most scared of, will she like it?

Maybe. For now though I need to take this one step at a time.

Starting with what i'm going to wear.

\*/

"This the place," she asks excitedly.

"Yes it is," I say with confirmation.

"It looks pretty expensive, you sure you wanna eat here?" the worry in her voice was evident.

"Yeah of coarse, I wanted to go some where nice for this date," I said back. This allowed a smile to break out on her face which was worth what ever i'm paying.

We step out of the car and head over to the restaurant, her with a smile, me with butterflies in my stomach. I'm still worrying about the surprise. Is it too much? No, she deserves more.

As soon as we entered the building we both noticed how nice it was. The low lighting giving it a nice romantic feel to the place. You could also hear some soft music in the background, the kind of soft the lyrics of the song are lost but you could still hear the rhythm itself. The sandstone bricks that made up the walls had vines draped on them, it covered it up beautifully.

"Wow,"was all we said.

"Will that be a table for two sir?" asked the man in a tuxedo.

"Yes it will be," I confirmed.

"Will that be a booth?" He asked again politely.

"It will," I confirmed once more.

"Right this way," he said and led us through the restaurant.

As we were led through I saw more couples sitting and eating. This place was obviously was a romantic place so it would naturally attract young couples like Annabeth and me.

Wait are we a couple? No, well not yet anyway. Hopefully if this goes well than I could have the honor of calling Annabeth my girlfriend. That sounds nice.

Calm down there Percy, one step at a time remember?

"Here you are," the man said when we finally reached a booth that was semi secluded from prying eyes. We both slid down and started to converse while we waited for the waiter.

"This is really nice place Percy, where you find it?" she asked me.

"Yelp, this place had four and a half stars," I answered honestly before continuing "The reviews said it was romantic and I got say it really sets a mood,"

"Yeah I love it," she said with the kind of smile to make my heart beat through my chest. Hopefully she can't hear it.

"Any ideas as to what you're gonna have?" I ask her.

"Hm... maybe the ribeye?" she tells slash asks me.

"I was thinking of having the new york cut myself," I tell her "Maybe with a side order of caesar's salad,"

"That sounds good," she agrees.

I look up from my menu to really look at what Annabeth is wearing. It's a nice dark blue dress that ends half way up the thigh, the straps being about two inches thick. She has a black belt in the middle with a matching black purse.

Overall its stunning.

It's so stunning in fact that I start to get self conscious of what i'm wearing. It being a button up dark red plaid shirt with a grey undershirt. The pants being a slim dark blue jeans with a black belt to hold up slash keep the shirt tucked in.

Mom said it looked nice and well it kind of is comfortable to wear. I can get use to this dressing up thing that adults do.

"You look nice," I comment.

"Right back at ya," she replies.

"No seriously, you look amazing. I mean wow," I say to her.

She smiles and tells me "You look really handsome Percy, you clean up good,"

I smile back. This whole thing feels good and comfortable, i'm just so at ease with her. Admittedly the last few times had been nerve recking in terms of that I was going to ask her out on a date, but on the date it self (so far at least) it has been relaxing and fun.

A few minutes later the waiter comes and we tell her our order and chat while we wait. Since we already kind of know each other its mostly small talk, its fun though none the less.

So far all I can really think about is how I want this to be a thing we do, to go out and have a fun time.

I really want dating Annabeth to be a regular occurrence.

\*/

The dinner went great. I have to remember to give it a good review on yelp when I stop by the library later.

Now we have the surprise, oh god I have to take this step. Its okay, she'll like it, its a nice place. Great view and all.

"Remind me again why I am letting you drive Percy?" Annabeth questions, agin I might add.

"Because where we're going is a surprise and it'll get ruined if I tell you where to drive," I tell her.

Oh by the way I do have my license. Mom and I figured it would be good to have even if we have no car. So again I can thank mom for part of this date. Thanks mom.

"I still don't like that your driving my baby," she says to me in a slightly humorous tone.

I laugh at her calling her car her baby. "Your baby? When have you ever called the civic your baby?"

"Just now Percy," she said "Man I thought you could listen,"

I laugh again at her antics. She looks at me with a smile and a scowl on her face letting me know she's having fun. I glance her sending her a look letting her that I am too having fun. This whole date has been awesome. Lets just hope she doesn't think i've gone too far with where we're going.

It's kind of personal, but the type of thing I want to share with her.

So when we pull up to a beach front at sunset with a run down type cabin there I hope beyond all hope that she'll like it.

"Where are we Percy," she asks with the curiosity evident in her voice.

"Montauk," I said back to her.

"Montauk? Montauk Long Island, why?" she asks still confused as to why we are out here.

"Mom and I used to go out here all the time," I told her "Its where she met my dad, right here on this beach,"

"Oh my, Percy. I have no idea what to say," She says.

"Nothing, you don't have to say a thing. I just wanted to share this with you Annabeth. I really do like you, a lot actually," I confess to her.

Her only response to that is to crush her lips to mine.

\*/

**Whoa, that was by far the toughest thing I have ever wrote. Worth it though am I right?**


	8. Faith in Fools

"_I have great faith in fools - self-confidence my friends will call it." _

― _Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia_

\*/

Her lips were as soft as I had thought they would be. Sweet, caring, and loving were all the emotions I got when we kissed then.

I felt her hand come to cup the back of my neck as the kiss was deepened turning it into a full on make out session.

I guess she liked the surprise. To be honest I liked the surprise too, that being the kiss she started.

I moved closer in an attempt to get as close as possible with her. I really do like her, like a lot. It only increased when I felt her moan into my mouth. My god do I like her.

When air became a thing that was needed we pulled away.

"Wow," was all we said.

"So er, you like the surprise?" I asked her.

She laughed and said "Yeah I do Percy, thank you for sharing this with me,"

"Thank you but it was nothing really," I said back to her.

"Well I still think it was," she continued "This place is really personal to your family Percy. I'm honored that you showed this to me,"

"Shared," I corrected "I think we both have a memory here now,"

She smiled and pulled out her phone.

"Oh, damn it. Its half past ten Percy. My dad wanted me home at eleven," she told me.

"Hey its okay, we can come here anytime. Alright?" I told her back.

"Yeah, yeah we can," she said more to her self then me.

With that we pulled out of Montauk beach to head back home. I have another great memory here.

Best part of it's with a girl who is not my _mom._

\*/

"And?" mom asked as soon as I entered the house.

"Good," I said with a smile as I remembered the kiss "Really good,"

She did a high pitched squel that I believe all girls have mastered. "I'm so happy Percy!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah," I said "Me too."

I am. I can freely sa that this is one of those rare times where i'm truly happy. This is something that I could get use to.

"I have an early shift tomorrow so i'm going to go to sleep," mom said "but i'm really happy for you Percy!"

She ran up to me and gave me a hug to which I returned. After she had headed off to her room to get some sleep for work.

Me? I just sat down to collect my thoughts, wait. Did I think after that kiss? No, weird.

Okay so does this make us a couple or is there some weird thing where you need to have a date/meeting about it.

Damn it. I really wish there was a manual to this relationship thing. I mean why does it have to be this awkward, I should just be able to go up and ask her.

Yeah, Annabeth's smart. She'll know if we're a couple or not. I just need to ask her.

What if she dosen't want to be a couple? Maybe she justs wants to be friends. Oh god, I can not do friends with her. No way, not happening.

"Stop freaking yourself out Percy," I chastise myself.

I seem to be doing that a lot lately. When has my life gotten so weird? I need to go to bed. Yeah, bed. That sounds great. None of these voices in my head telling me i'm in the friends zone which by the way I am totally not in. I mean I kissed her for god's sake. She kissed me back too!

Sleep. I need Sleep.

My dreams better be better at night then the ones I have during the day.

\*/

The next time I saw Annabeth was on sunday.

We were going to hang out and just have fun. Like normal friend/couples do. Totally normal.

"Hey," she said as she walked up to me.

"Hi," I said with the amount of confidence that you'd excpect me to have at this point.

"So, where'd you find this place," Annabeth said as she looked around at it.

"I like arcade games. What can I say?" I asked her. She laughed at that.

"Wouldn't have pegged you as an arcade guy," she told me.

"Oh yeah?" I started "What kind of guy did you peg me as?"

"I pegged you as a great kisser," she confessed as the blood drained from my face.

Oh dear lord. Please, my body is not prepared for flirting.

"Percy?" her head turned back at me and she laughed "What? Have you never flirted with your girlfriend before?"

I nearly fainted.

That was surprisingly easy, but my imagination is quite extensive so I had to ask. "G-girlfriend?"

I have never stuttered in my life. I will hate myself forever for that.

"Yeah," she said "We went on a date, remember? We also kissed."

"Your my girlfriend," I said in awe mostly to myself.

"Yup," her popping the p "Also my parents want to meet you."

I think the blackness ment I fainted.

\*/

**This took way to long, sorry 'bout that. Next one will be out when hopefully life won't get in the way.**


End file.
